Letters 02-08-09

Monday

Feb 9, 2009 at 2:09 PMFeb 9, 2009 at 2:13 PM

Why change a name that's 60 years old?

Subject: Renaming of the Apple Valley Country Club.

The Apple Valley Country Club, established in 1949, has been both a celebrity magnet and as the center of enjoyment for Apple Valley and area residents for 60 years. In a 1973 publication the Apple Valley Country Club was described as "Victor Valley's first and finest country club."

The course, designed by the late Billy Bell Sr. and enjoyed by world-famous professionals including Lloyd Mangrum, Billy Casper, Arnold Palmer and Bud Holscher, was the setting for 16 golf television shows, shown internationally. The course was even played by former President Richard Nixon when he visited Apple Valley in 1961 to finish his book, "Six Crises."

On a current note, the husband of the lady I work with, an avid golfer, elected to play the Apple Valley Country Club course with associates. His analysis after a rewarding game was, "it is the best course in the High Desert."

I offer the above not as a lesson in local history, but to emphasize that the amazing green belt at the center of Apple Valley has been and should continue to be the APPLE VALLEY COUNTRY CLUB. The name, APPLE VALLEY COUNTRY CLUB, defines what and where it is.

I find it sad that the Town sees a need to fence the perimeter of the golf course. For 60 years it has been open to all who wish to walk along the outskirts of the golf course and enjoy its wide open space.

Now that the club is going public, the Town is fencing it in? That makes no sense to me. Then again, there isn't much about this whole thing that does make sense.

Karen GreggApple Valley

We need more transparency

Transparency in government is critical to the legitimacy of power. Two recent events chronicled in the Daily Press leave me wondering if some of our local authorities have forgotten this.

In Apple Valley, the Town Council recently decided "in closed session" to spend $70,000 to fix a water pump at the former Apple Valley Country Club. State law allows for closed session discussion only on items that involve litigation, or on personnel matters. Yes, there are issues surrounding water rights that may involve litigation, but the decision to spend $70,000 of taxpayer money to fix a well (or for anything else, for that matter) should have been discussed openly.

In Victorville, the City Council recently rejected a request from a local business for a loan. Victorville Councilman Ryan McEachron said he voted against the request because he was still awaiting financial information from the city. Mr. McEachron has been serving for two months on the City Council, but for some reason he cannot obtain the information he is seeking.

What is being hidden from him, and by whom, and why? The city should have instantly provided Councilman McEachron with the information he sought, and then immediately provided that same information to the public.

Our local cities are grappling with serious issues, some of which legitimately need to be discussed in closed session. However, it is incumbent upon our elected officials to open the doors of government unless, and only unless, state law bars the door. We elected these people, and we have a right to know what they are doing in our name, and why.

Mark ShoupApple Valley

The escalation of doom

First we faced a "crisis" then it was "disaster" then "chaos" and now President Obama says we face catastrophe if his trillion-dollar "bailout/stimulus" plan is not passed immediately.

The world will not stop spinning if the president doesn't get his way. What I do see happening, if his bill doesn't pass soon, is that he and his liberal party will run out of superlatives to describe the doom and gloom we face if he doesn't get what he wants.

The dirty little secret they don't want to tell anyone is that they want enough Republican support on this bill so that when it fails the president can claim he had "bipartisan" support for his bill, so he and his party don't take the heat alone.

Thursday the president said the Republicans haven't offered an alternative bill, but only opposed his bill. Actually the Republicans did offer an alternative bill which was defeated on party lines 57 to 40.

Perhaps the president should forget about getting his face in front of the cameras two or three times a day and try listening to and negotiating with his opposition in both parties.

Catastrophe? Only if this bill passes with everything the president and his liberal cronies want. Adding a trillion dollars to the $2 trillion debt he says he inherited is not the answer.

William BeattieApple Valley

Twiddling their thumbs

I'm confused. I thought for the last seven months that lawmakers and the governor were in Sacramento engaged in meaningful work trying to sort out this budget mess. I thought they were evaluating and prioritizing programs, deciding what was really needed and what was wanted. Prioritizing is what my family and I have been doing as business has fallen off to almost zero; we've had to tighten our belts and cut out wants!

Then I read in the paper that state workers don't want to take two-day-a-month furloughs resulting in a 10 percent pay cut. I wish my pay had only been cut 10 percent. I know a lot of out-of-work family, friends, and neighbors who wish they had only taken a 10 percent pay cut. Their $400-a-week unemployment helps, but is one of the big nails in the coffin our state economic woes.

It is starting to feel like a union negotiation is going on in Sacramento. Lawmakers are being left out, with no one but the Big Five (Gov. Schwarzennegger and leaders from both parties) have anything to say about what it happening in the budget "negotiations". Sound like big labor to you? They negotiate the contract, and the members vote on it?

They are also appealing a judge's order to uphold the Governor's order to furlough state workers. They want to overturn the Proposition 13 tax requirement of a two-thirds majority to raise or make new taxes.

What happens to their minds when they get to Sacramento or Washington? Do these elected officials forget that they represent the people who elected them? That the money that are haggling over was earned by the people and taken by government in the form of taxes?

They need to cut, not just program growth, but actual spending. Rolling back to two years ago would be a huge help.

This waiting and scare game is ridiculous. Our bond rating is the worst in the country, thanks to all the delays. We need to remember what it's like to be held hostage, and vote accordingly in the next election.

Rhonda HarbourPhelan

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